Orders Issued to Disarm... Everyone?

They're not putting up shutters. They're boarding up the windows. Sure, it's a small point. But it's blatant and obvious. The media no longer even cares about accuracy, even when it's front and center. The frequent excuse is they fudge to save space. Board up windows has fewer characters, and would be correct, too. USA Today. Sep. 9, 2017. Page One.

The lamestream media told you:

Non-stop coverage of the storm -- it's coming! it's coming!, it's here!, it's going!, it's gone!, preempting every other bit of news for days -- days -- even the Russian takeover of Donald Trump's brain, and his tax returns (forgot about those, didn't you).

Only Tucker Carlson questioned the governor of the Virgin Islands about it, live on FOX News, who seemed to have ordered every gun on the islands confiscated by the National Guard. Forty Google listings deep and not one other lamestream media outlet was on the subject -- but every gun and new-media source was all over it.

Publicly posted, click for a full-size image of the gun-seizure order:

VI Mapp's Gun Grab Order

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

There’s more to it than that.

Only the new-media and gun media really carried the story, because it was so “minor.” Governor Kenneth Mapp of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory protected by the National Guard, issued an order to confiscate the public’s guns and ammo before hurricane Irma arrived in early Sep. 2017. The “officials” down there know who has what, because all guns are registered -- the holy grail of the anti-gun-rights community worldwide.

Gun folks went bonkers. The order actually said the troops could confiscate basically anything, if they needed it for their purposes. It was not a blanket order to go door-to-door to disarm the public. But it was sloppy, and could have been read that way. In statutes enacted in 1972 they pretty much gave themselves that authority, and those “laws” should have been quickly voided as unconstitutional. They weren’t. That’s how this sort of power is stolen, bit by bit, without notice.

I watched the governor on Tucker Carlson (FOX News) shuck and jive, defending his action, insisting they would never confiscate guns. But... but, it could be dangerous after the storm, they didn’t want looting. Right. And what did he expect the public to do if looters showed up? Dial 911 and Die? (by Aaron Zelman and Richard Stevens)

The situation raised the most fundamental Second Amendment question of all. What would YOU do if armed troops showed up at your door and demanded your guns, because they had orders, or it was going to... rain?

U.S. National Guard troops are out of compliance with REAL law if they follow a shocking order to confiscate innocent civilians’ firearms in the U.S. Virgin Islands. U.S. troops and police forces have professed loudly and publicly they would never follow such an order if it were ever given. Would they follow orders, or their oaths? That’s why Oath Keepers was formed -- low confidence in how well principle would be followed.

An impending natural disaster like a hurricane, when the public will need its guns is the opposite of justification for such an unthinkable immoral confiscation act. The governor issuing the order will not be deprived of armed protection himself. This is exactly the definition of tyranny by an elected official, a new King George. Guns for me but not for thee. He considers sending the heavily armed National Guard after your guns in a time of crisis, the very time when firearms are most needed. He should encourage your self-sufficient armed safety, suspecting his statist capabilities are about to be reduced to rubble.

The impending collapse of government, its resources and services makes it imperative that the public be armed to secure its own safety, when self-reliance will be key to survival, as it always is in these situations.

Texas just survived cataclysmic conditions without resort to violence or monstrous government abuse. Governor Mapp is in need of reeducation.

“From my cold dead fingers,” and “Bullets First!” gain urgency when government calls out its troops to disarm the general public. There is no legitimate authority to do so. There is no logical reason to do so. It demonstrates at best hoplophobic behavior in serious need of treatment, at worst plain tyrannical abuse.

Here’s the worst of it. Hurricane Hugo, 1989 -- it was the National Guard and the police who were doing the looting! The L.A. Times was first to get that story. The looters were joined by hundreds of prisoners set free by a demolished prison. I don’t understand why gun rights groups didn’t call for public resistance to the order, and instead chose to file papers and issue statements.

The Founders were right. People in power don’t trust the people over whom they have power. This is the ultimate reason why you should only give up your guns, bullets first. Never forget. That’s why you have them. That ability, and willingness, keeps you safe and free. Because then maybe you won’t have to, and government will keep its proper distance, like in search and rescue operations.

Now it turns out the National Guard never got around to confiscating anything. The storm was on them too quickly. So who cares, right? Louisiana, last time around, ahh, it could never happen outside a southern swamp, right?

The "officials" will confiscate your guns, no questions asked, next time they're asked. "News" media will support their effort, no questions asked. Just like last time.

Only one groups gave the right answer, IMHO, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, http://www.jpfo.org:

“If U.S. National Guard troops execute this illegal order and attempt to forcibly disarm the public they should be met with armed resistance and subject to court martial... The idea that you can make people safer by making them defenseless in the face of hurricane devastation is insanity... Government agents arriving to disarm innocent people who face mayhem should face loaded guns, not compliant victims, because the agents are doing harm and threatening lives. Soldiers take oaths against this. People are justified in defending themselves—it is precisely why they are armed.” Now there’s a group that gets it, one worth joining. Their mottos are that they make the other groups look like moderates, and you don’t have to Jewish to fight by their side.

Tactical alternate actual approach: Appear gone/abandoned/don’t answer Diversion: We’re packing, about to leave, we're good, go attend to others, do you have any supplies These aren't the droids you're looking for Fate: If they persist, attempt to forcibly enter, fate has chosen you. You end up in the world court.

About the Author

Freelance writer Alan Korwin is a founder and past president of the Arizona Book Publishing Association. With his wife Cheryl he operates Bloomfield Press, the largest producer and distributor of gun-law books in the country. Here writing as "The Uninvited Ombudsman," Alan covers the day's stories as they ought to read. Read more.